Fib
by Ms. Notebook
Summary: In which Sabato tells a 5-year old Rinne a white lie about his mother. Spoilers for chapter 29 - 31. Oneshot.


Note: Spoilers for Chapter 29 to 31.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rin-ne/Kyokai No Rinne. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media

**Fib**

There's a rustle in the little boy's room. Then everything is still, just for a few moments. The intruder pauses in his footsteps, tensing in case he needs to bolt at the sight of the boy's grandparents.

Nothing happens.

Only the stillness of a sleeping boy's sheets, moving up and down rhythmically to the beat of his sleeping heart can be heard. The other world's eerie moon casts light through the opened window and a light breeze brushes against the sleeping boy's bed, causing the boy to shiver. The boy's red locks flutter softly over his forehead, and it takes all of the intruder's urges not to sneeze as a dandelion seed flies past him.

The intruder does not sneeze. He holds the action in, his flickering beneath unreadable eyes as he watches the boy sleep.

The boy is his son.

He is Sabato Rokudo—president of a damashigami company which is rapidly going into debt every day, and father of the slumbering sort-of shinigami child before him.

When the boy rolls to his side, Sabato jumps. The damashigami is just inches away from his son's piggy bank, and he will be damned if he doesn't snatch it now. He knows he's up to no good, stealing from a kid—his son, no less—but he makes up excuses that he will pay back his son later. Of course, these excuses are merely words used to calm his uneasy conscience, of which he has very little remnants of when it comes to money.

Sabato's fingers stretch out cautiously, brushing just at the surface of the shiny container of coins when his son suddenly falls out of bed.

Immediately, Sabato panics. It's instinctive and at the same time part of him wants to bolt out the window to avoid Tamako's wrath. The other part of him, the instinctive part, is the one that overwhelms him for just that split second and somehow he finds himself reaching out to catch his five year old son in his arms.

That's when his son opens his eyes warily. Red orbs stare up sleepily at the sheepish, yet partly relieved that his son didn't fall, father.

Rinne assumes that he's still sleeping. But its only when he feels his father's heartbeat against his cheek, because his body is curled up against his father's chest, does he know that he is truly awake. Normally he would pout and attempt to lecture his father about coming to visit him more, but he's too tired to hold a grudge in order to get attention. He's busy appreciating this rare chance to share his father's company.

Meanwhile, Sabato, with less to no experience in dealing with children, awkwardly pats his son on the head, brushing his fingers through fiery red hair much like his own. Sabato, a little drunk (then again he always is when he comes to his son's room to steal money), wonders how they can look so much a like and yet be so different.

Part of him longs for a better relationship with his son.

But soon his other vices kick that regretful voice of his silent. Once again, Sabato returns to plotting about money and his company. His thoughts are filled with beautiful women and how he can please them, debts and how he can avoid paying them, luxuries and how he can cheat his way to get them.

"...Hey Dad...," Rinne mumbles, eyes half-closed.

Seeing such a sight, Sabato can't help himself. He smiles widely at him, "Hey kiddo. It's your Papa alright."

To his surprise, Rinne snuggles closer, "...I missed you...," he yawns widely, "you didn't come to my birthday party..."

It should be illegal to look that adorable. Children are a menace sometimes, especially your own, for Sabato can't do anything but melt at the sight of his drowsy little boy. After all, he does like to humor the boy from time to time by dropping by every few months. Having a son was like paying some kind of tax. If you saw him once in a blue moon, he usually didn't bother you.

Because, Sabato gets easily bothered by Rinne. He blames it on Rinne's young age. When Rinne is older, it'll be easier for Sabato to resist his nagging fatherly instincts.

Such as the one that tells him to sing his son a lullaby.

Even Sabato doesn't want to condemn Rinne to such a fate, for he doesn't have the best singing voice. Rinne's mother was the singer.

Ah, there's that pang that comes when he thinks of Rinne's mother. That pang he always tries to escapes when he goes into the arms of another willing damashigami or human woman. God, Rinne's mother was amazing...

He wonders how he will ever tell Rinne that his mother is dead. In fact, he's never had to tell the kid _anything_ about his mother before and Sabato considers himself lucky for now.

He'll have to be extremely drunk, he decides then, when he tells Rinne about his mother.

Unfortunately, fate chooses to jab a thorn into his side... because Rinne chooses this moment to ask his father about his mother.

"...Dad...," Rinne's sleepy voice has a touch of desperation in it.

Sabato is uneasy.

He answers. "Yes, kiddo?"

Awkwardly, Rinne looks down at his hands and mumbles, "Why don't I have a mom?"

Oh... curses.

"Of course you have a mother!" Sabato proclaims with more volume then he intended.

He berates himself and listens to hear if Tamako or Rinne's grandfather have awoken from the noise. When he hears quiet, he continues looking at Rinne nervously with a grin too wide to be true, one that resembles a clown's fake laughter.

But Rinne does not notice—thankfully. That child of his could be very astute. It probably came from his mother's side of the family somewhere...

However, this trial isn't over yet.

When Rinne flushes, there's some tears in his eyes. He still won't look at Sabato, and Sabato doesn't know why its bothering him. Is it another fatherly thing? Wasn't he supposed to be worried about getting his kid's allowance and then hightailing it back to his company headquarters?

But Rinne's next words alarm Sabato so much, that he forgets himself again.

"...If I have a mommy... then why doesn't she come see me?"

Oh no, Sabato thinks. I have no clue what to say...

The tremble in Rinne's lip scares Sabato even more. He wraps his arms around Rinne tighter and lowers him to bed, continuing to pat Rinne's head. Wow, Sabato knows hes being more attentive than usual today... and he blames it on the alcohol.

His eyes look with Rinne's bright red imploring ones, and he knows that he better say something soon to keep his child at ease and back to sleep.

"...Well...," Sabato starts off slowly, telling a small part of the truth, "...she's gone."

Now Rinne is confused. His brow is furrowed.

"Gone? Gone where?"

Oh, to be a child again. So naive. Sabato gulps and is about to tell the truth. He stops, because he just can't—he won't, not unless he's drunk enough—ruin Rinne's image of his mother. Perfect. Alive. And just... alive...

"She lives in a faraway town... because she's very busy," he pauses and continues to weave the white lie into a beautiful story, saying each word in the hopes of putting Rinne to bed, "because she has a very important mission to do there... so important that she can't come here to see you for a while."

"Oh..."

The easy acceptance from his five-year old son should _not_ make him feel so much like trash. He was supposed to be the master at conning people darn it...

But it does.

Sabato knows he'll forget about it soon enough though, when he returns to the inviting embraces of a new woman.

So he continues to indulge this rare domestic side of himself.

He smiles at Rinne. "She loves you very much, you know."

_And that's the truth, kiddo. She loves you more than I ever could, that's for sure._

Rinne smiles up at him, "Thanks Daddy."

Then he goes back to sleep.

Sabato sits there, in a daze. He frowns and goes out the window.

This time, and only this time, he leaves Rinne's piggy bank alone.

-

This is all just mere speculation... and I just had to write something about Rinne's father. Anyways, please review :)


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